MacroScan - Asset Monetisation for Infrastructural Investment: An illogical plan

Announced with much fanfare as an innovative means of financing green field infrastructural projects, the National Democratic Alliance government's asset monetisation plan raises a host of concerns. It seems predicated on undervaluing potential returns over a longish period to make the exercise attractive enough for the private sector to bite. It can also involve collateral effects that adversely affect sections like consumers and workers, whose representatives were not adequately consulted with when formulating the plan.

* This article was originally published in Economic and Political Weekly on September 11, 2021.